1. Field of The Invention
Applicant's invention relates to the removal of staples from paper and other planer materials to which staples have been applied.
2. Background Information
Improved methods of and apparatuses for the efficient removal of staples are driven by market demands for such improvements. Anyone exposed to any office environment has experienced the frustration while attempting to remove a staple of tearing up a document, breaking a fingernail, and/or grappling with the staple before succesfully removing it. These problems have existed since staples were first introduced.
The drive for ever more effective and efficient ways to remove staples comes from two primary but unrelated factors--(1) the accelerated pace of modern office environments where delays in any repeated procedure is viewed as an unacceptable inefficiency; and (2) the danger to expensive computer, fax, and photocopy machinery posed by the occasionally dropped staple.
Easily the most common form of staple remover in contemporary office environments are those which are generally of the configuration shown in Augustin, Des. U.S. Pat. No. 281,662. Improvements to this type of staple remover are taught in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
______________________________________ Delia 4,054,263 Clark 5,284,322 Webster 5,246,449 Koo 5,195,724 ______________________________________
However, none of these improvements change the basic manner in which staples are grasped and removed from paper. The removers are designed to draw a staple from one or more sheets of paper by action of opposing, sharp-tipped prongs which reciprocate in a scissor-like action to reach under a staple and draw it from the paper. One problem with staple removers of this type is that the sharp prongs often gouge and damage the paper. Another problem is that the removers, even those which have magnetized components for retaining removed staples, do not reliably do so.
Further still, some users of the Augustin-type staple removers, particularly those suffering from arthritis, carpel tunnel syndrome, etc. may find operation thereof difficult or painful. It is a well known fact that persons who have less than optimal dexterity or otherwise debilitating conditions of the hands perform better and with less discomfort when faced with gross rather than small precise motion requirements (the latter being required while using Augustin-type removers).